Southwest Open School student, Neco Escoe, pets Layla, one of the 22 Victory dogs rescued from Michael Vick’s group of pit bulls.

By Patti Ledford, SWOS teacher, and Brianna Provstgaard, SWOS student

Special to the Journal

It’s amazing how original purposes can get redirected when you least expect it. Students from the Lower House Seminar class at Southwest Open School scheduled a couple of days of volunteer work at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah to help care for and comfort shelter animals. What they didn’t expect was to experience a personal bolstering of spirit.

The 15-member group, comprised of twelve students and three adults, first traveled to Wire Pass trail head where they camped and spent the next day hiking through the pass into Buckskin Gulch, the longest slot canyon in the Southwest. This annual rite of passage is one of the highlights of the SWOS school year. The group, led by SWOS assistant director, Dave Finlay, teacher Patti Ledford and intern Kim Johnson, explored the slot canyon in two groups. The trek included three somewhat precarious passes through mud and water, but all made it through without incident thanks to teamwork and the typical SWOS, “We can do it together,” spirit. The students enjoyed the awe-inspiring topography of the gulch and even took on the challenge as a unique “physical education experience.”

The third and fourth days of the trip included dry camping at a local state campground and volunteer work at Best Friends Animal Society. This no-kill shelter, one of the few of its kind, was established in 1984 by a group of friends who felt it was important to change the thinking of that time that shelters and humane societies had no option other than to euthanize unadoptable animals. The society is funded through donations and 90 percent of their staff is volunteer. The shelter staff explained to the students that it costs over $100,000 a day to feed, shelter, and care for the animals along with administrative costs. Animals in residence at the sanctuary (typically around 1,700 on any given day) include: horses, burros, pigs, birds of all types, rabbits, goats, various “wild” animals, and of course, a large number of dogs and cats.

The SWOS students spent their time at Best Friends performing a variety of services including: walking and socializing shelter dogs; talking to birds; cleaning rabbit enclosures; reinstalling rain protection for outdoor rabbit enclosures; feeding and watering rabbits; and clearing a new horse pasture in preparation for some new residents that were on the way. One of the highlights of their experience was meeting one of the 22 “Victory” dogs rescued by Best Friends from Michael Vick’s collection of abused pit bulls. Layla, a shy but loving, toffee-colored pit, was the object of lots of love and affection from the SWOS kids. Several of the students mentioned the similarity between the Victory dogs and themselves. “People often fear what they don’t understand; some of us have had a rough start in life, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t kind and loving beings with tons of potential. We just needed SWOS, like Layla and the other Victory dogs needed Best Friends.” So even though the intention of the trip was to perform service and provide love and care for animals, the animals in turn, shared their love and understanding with our students.

Southwest Open School students listen attentively while a Best Friends volunteer explains how a pig finds its way to a home at the sanctuary.

Rabbit info

The SWOS students feel it is extremely important that the Cortez community is made aware of some specific information they gathered while volunteering with Jason Dickman, who supervises the rabbits and their care at Rescue Village. One story included a case in Reno, Nev. where a woman was hoarding rabbits in her yard. She had over 800 unsocialized, unaltered bunnies living in her back yard in burrows and under trailers. Many were sick, injured or pregnant. When they arrived, representatives from Best Friends began separating by sex, spaying and neutering (they were being born at a rate of approximately 40 per day), providing medical care and moving them to a nearby facility with adequate housing. By the time all of the rabbits were identified by sex and separated, there were probably around 1,200 rabbits, because they were breeding all the time while the fencing and new housing was being built. Best Friends currently has 135 of these rabbits at the Rescue Village area. The SWOS students were able to work with and care for these rabbits during their service at Best Friends. Many of the other bunnies were adopted out or went to other rescue groups. Some did not make it due to sickness and injuries from their living situation.

Think of getting a rabbit as a pet?

Here are some facts from Best Friends:

Rabbits really aren’t the best choice when looking for a pet for your young child. They don’t necessarily like to be handled a lot and children tend to want to hold, pet and handle them constantly. Rabbits also aren’t big on noise and high-pitched voices. They can also bite and scratch when held. Rabbit handling techniques are required to know how to carry them around. Their spines are delicate and can be easily broken if not handled correctly. Also, rabbits can literally be “scared to death.”

At age three to four months, rabbits can start having babies. They can have litters of anywhere from 4-10 babies per litter. Their gestation period is 32 days and they can become pregnant again within 24 hours of delivering a litter. Rabbits can be spayed or neutered.

Rabbits like space to get exercise and experience new smells and explore. This can be done in the house while supervised or even outside in a fenced yard. Make sure they are supervised though; they can (and will) dig right under a fence in no time while you are away. Exercise pens are good to house rabbits in because they are easily moveable and can be purchased in varying heights to accommodate rabbits that have jumping abilities. Pre-made rabbit cages are best if they do not have the wire mesh bottoms. Rabbits tend to get their claws caught in these and the mesh is not comfortable or safe for the bunnies. The mesh can be covered with rigs, natural grass mats or other materials to make it more comfortable.

In 2006 the ASPCA estimated the annual cost for owning a pet rabbit at $911. This includes food, spaying or neutering, toys, carrier, cage, etc.

Community calendar

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Monday, March 30

SouthWest Colorado Concerts presents Quartetto Gelato at M-CHS at 7 p.m. This Canadian quartet is known for clever programming and humor and...